Theme parks know they need to have the latest and most exciting attractions to keep drawing the crowds to fill their properties.
Competition for guests is fierce among the top theme parks in the U.S. with operators such as Walt Disney (DIS) – Get The Walt Disney Company Report, Comcast’s (CMCSA) – Get Comcast Corporation Class A Common Stock Report Universal Studios, Cedar Fair (FUN) – Get Cedar Fair L.P. Report and Six Flags Entertainment (SIX) – Get Six Flags Entertainment Corporation Report constantly introducing new attractions and installing new rides
Theme parks know they need to have the latest and most exciting attractions to keep drawing the crowds to fill their properties. The competition ramped up in 2010 after Universal Orlando Resort introduced the Wizarding World of Harry Potter land at Islands of Adventure, then added Wizarding World to Universal Studios Orlando in 2014 and Universal Studios Hollywood in California in 2016.
Disney answered soon afterward adding Pandora – The World of Avatar land to Animal Kingdom at Disney World in Orlando in 2017 and Toy Story Land to its Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando in 2018.
But that wasn’t enough for Disney. The following year, the Mouse House followed with spectacular openings of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., in May 2019, and at Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios in August 2019. And it didn’t stop there, adding the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ride in December 2019 at Hollywood Studios and the in January 2020 at Disneyland.
Image source: Shutterstock
New Attractions Coming to Theme parks
Disney’s Epcot in Orlando in October 2021 opened Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride and on May 27 opened Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind rollercoaster. Disney in May also began testing its new Tron Lightcycle Run coaster ride, which has been under construction since 2018, at Magic Kingdom in Orlando. No opening date has been scheduled, but it’s getting close.
Universal Studios Parks are not standing still for all of Disney’s additions. Universal Studios Hollywood has plans to open Super Nintendo World at its park in 2023 and in 2025, Universal Studios Orlando plans to open a third theme park, Epic Universe.
Cedar Fair, which plans to close its California Great America in Santa Clara, Calif. by 2033 after selling the land occupying the park to a developer, is rumored to have plans to soon move a ride at that park, Psycho Mouse, to its Cedar Point theme park in Sandusky, Ohio. That move would be part of a much bigger ongoing development project at Cedar Point to build a new Boardwalk-themed area at the park that is expected to open in 2023.
Exciting Thrill Ride Opens
The latest excitement at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, Texas, is the July 30 opening of Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger, touted as the world’s steepest dive coaster.
The ride consists of three 21-passenger trains that lift riders 150 feet in the air, then lock them in a face-first Cliffhanger hold just before dropping them down a 95-degree, beyond-vertical plummet at 60 miles per hour. The machine travels on 2,501 feet of track through an Immelmann inversion, a 270-degree zero-g roll, a 75-foot near-vertical drop, a wild-banked turn, an extreme airtime hill, and a high-speed spiral finale, according to the park’s website.
Riders must observe the height limits of a minimum 52 inches to a maximum 78 inches tall.
